About Me

Hi! Nice of you to stop by. My name is Danica and welcome to Chic Runner.

Chic Runner began in 2008. After majoring in communications and minoring in creative writing in college, I really missed writing after graduating. Imagine that. When I combined running and writing, mostly my training and race recaps, Chic Runner was born.

Since the beginning, I’ve run multiple different races in a few different states, gotten married and started coaching at a local high school. I ran my first marathon in May of 2009, and it wasn’t a great experience. I finally had the race that I dreamed of at the Long Beach Marathon in October 2009 {read about it here} It made me believe in second chances.

I’ve run quiet a few races since that marathon but recently have really been trying to make every one of my training runs have purpose. I have changed up my training routine to reflect that and in May 2014, much to my surprise, I ran faster than I ever expected I could, pr’ed in the marathon by over 23 minutes and qualified for the Boston Marathon! It was another magical day and I can’t wait to run the Boston Marathon in April 2015.

I started running when I joined my junior high cross-country team back in ’99. I ran track, played soccer and ran cross country through high school. It seemed like I grew up running. One of the biggest changes that I’ve been through was when I lost my mom my Junior year of college. When she passed away, I stopped running. I don’t know why, but I felt like I couldn’t do anything that made me happy when she was alive. When I coached a small high school cross-country program at one of the first meets I attended, I cried at the start of the race. It was shocking because I am not an emotional person. It was then that I realized how much I loved running and how I missed it. When I was began running consistently again, things began to fall back into place. I was happier! One saying I remind myself of often is, “Live What You Love.” That is exactly how I want to live my life, doing things I love.

I always loved writing and advertising so after college I landed my first job and worked at various agencies and companies doing social media, copy writing and marketing. I thought I would end up doing that for my career.

After working in Hermosa Beach for a year and a half, I reached out to a few people about local coaching opportunities and when it seemed to be too late in the season to start with a team, I was offered the position to at a local high school. I took a giant leap of faith {and with the support of my very loving husband} took the assistant high school cross country and track coach position. I never imagined how fulfilling coaching would be and how much I enjoy it. I do freelance copy writing for a few different companies and some social media as well.

I am married to an amazing guy who is a firefighter for the City of Los Angeles. He doesn’t love running as much as me, actually who am I kidding, he hates running, but he has really made my life more fun.

In high school, I was much faster than I am today, but throughout my life experiences, related to running or not, I have come to realize it’s not about the time or your place in the race, but the journey it takes you to get to that finish line.